AUN-QA SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT AT PROGRAM LEVEL
International Economics Program
Faculty of Economics, Maejo University
Chiang Mai, Thailand
June 2019
1
Table of Contents
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1
Overview of University, Faculty, and Program ...... 1
Maejo University ...... 1
Faculty of Economics (FEC) ...... 2
International Economics Program (IEP) ...... 3
PART 2 AUN CRITERIONS ...... 5
1. Expected Learning Outcomes ...... 5
1.1. The expected learning outcomes have been clearly formulated and aligned with the vision and mission of the university ...... 5
1.2. The expected learning outcomes cover both subject specific and generic learning outcome...... 12
1.3. The expected learning outcome clearly reflect the requirements of the stakeholders ... 13
2. Programme Specification ...... 14
2.1. The information in the programme specification is comprehensive and up-to-date ..... 15
2.2. The information in the course specification is comprehensive and up-to-date ...... 16
2.3. The programme and course specifications are communicated and made available to the stakeholders ...... 18
3. Programme structure and content ...... 18
3.1. The curriculum is designed based on constructive alignment with the expected learning outcomes ...... 19
3.2. The contribution made by each course to achieve the expected learning outcomes is clear ...... 20
3.3. The curriculum is logically structured, sequenced, integrated and up-to-date ...... 21
4. Teaching and Learning Approach ...... 23
4.1. The educational philosophy is well articulated and communicated to all stakeholders 23
i 4.2. Teaching and learning activities are constructively aligned to the achievement of the expected learning outcomes ...... 25
4.3. Teaching and learning activities enhance life-long learning ...... 25
5. Student Assessment ...... 29
5.1. The student assessment is constructively aligned to the achievement of the expected learning outcomes ...... 29
5.2. The student assessments including timelines, methods, regulations, weight distribution, rubrics and grading are explicit and communicated to students ...... 29
5.3. Methods including assessment rubrics and marking schemes are used to ensure validity, reliability and fairness of student assessment ...... 30
5.4. Feedback of student assessment is timely and helps to improve learning ...... 30 5.5. Students have ready access to appeal procedure ...... 31 6. Academic Staff Quality...... 31
6.1. Academic staff planning is carried out to fulfill the needs for education, research and service ...... 31
6.2. Staff-to-student ratio and workload are measured and monitored to improve the quality of education, research and service ...... 33
6.3. Recruitment and selection criteria including ethics and academic freedom for appointment, deployment and promotion are determined and communicated ...... 35
6.4. Competences of academic staff are identified and evaluated ...... 36
6.5. Training and developmental needs of academic staff are identified and activities are implemented to fulfill them ...... 38
6.6. Performance management including rewards and recognition is implemented to motivate and support education, research and service ...... 39
6.7. The types and quantity of research activities by academic staff are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 40
7. Support Staff Quality ...... 43
7.1. Support staff planning is carried out to fulfill the needs for education, research and service ...... 43
ii 7.2. Recruitment and selection criteria for appointment, deployment and promotion are determined and communicated...... 45
7.3. Competences of support staff are identified and evaluated ...... 46
7.4. Training and developmental needs of support staff are identified and activities are implemented to fulfill them ...... 47
7.5. Performance management including rewards and recognition is implemented to motivate and support education, research and service ...... 48
8. Student Quality and Support ...... 48
8.1. The student intake policy and admission criteria are defined, communicated, published, and up-to-date...... 48
8.2. The methods and criteria for the selection of students are determined and evaluated .. 50
8.3. There is an adequate monitoring system for student progress, academic performance, and workload ...... 51
8.4. Academic advice, co-curricular activities, student competition, and other student support services are available to improve learning and employability ...... 55
8.5. The physical, social and psychological environment is conductive for education and research as well as personal well-being ...... 56
9. Facilities and Infrastructure ...... 57
9.1. The teaching and learning facilities and equipment (lecture halls, classroom, project rooms, etc.) are adequate and update to support education and research ...... 57
9.2. The library and its resources are adequate and updated to support education and research ...... 58
9.3. The laboratories and equipment are adequate and updated to support education and research ...... 59
9.4. The IT facilities and equipment are adequate and updated to support education and research ...... 59
9.5. The standards for environment, health and safety; and access for people with special needs are defined and implemented ...... 59
10. Quality Enhancement ...... 59
iii 10.1. Stakeholders’ needs and feedback serve as input to curriculum design and development ...... 60
10.2. The curriculum design and development process is established and subjected to evaluation and enhancement ...... 60
10.3. The teaching and learning processes and student assessment are continuously reviewed and evaluated to ensure their relevance and alignment ...... 61
10.4. Research output is used to enhance teaching and learning ...... 62
10.5. Quality of support services and facilities (at the library, laboratory, IT facility and student service) is subjected to evaluation and enhancement ...... 62
10.6. The stakeholder’s feedback mechanisms are systematic and subjected to evaluation and enhancement ...... 62
11. Output ...... 63
11.1. The pass rates and dropout rates are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 63
11.2. The average time to graduate is established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 63
11.3. Employability of graduates is established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 63
11.4. The types and quantity of research activities by student are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 63
11.5. The satisfaction level of stakeholders are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement ...... 64
iv PART 1: INTRODUCTION Overview of University, Faculty, and Program Maejo University Maejo University (MJU) is among the oldest agricultural institutions in Thailand. It was first established as the Northern Agricultural Teachers Training School under the Ministry of Education and was later transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture to become the Kasetsart Preparatory School. After a year, it was officially installed as Maejo Agricultural School to serve as a research station of Kasetsart University (KU), a state university in Bangkok. It began to accept M.6 (Grade 12) students who, upon finishing at Maejo, were automatically admitted to KU for a 4-year degree program.
In 1956, Maejo was renamed Chiang Mai College of Agriculture, making it the first certificate-granting agricultural college under the Ministry of Education. Its graduates became secondary school teachers in agriculture.
In 1975, Maejo was royally confirmed as a state university under the Ministry of University Affairs but was called the Institute of Agricultural Technology. With this status, however, it began to accept students from vocational schools to its 2-year programs (associate degree) and students from secondary schools to its 4-year degree programs. The aim of this was to give all vocational school graduates greater opportunity to attain higher education in agriculture. The 19th of February is thus celebrated as MJU's Foundation Day.
In 1982, the institute’s name was again changed to Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology upon the request of its alumni. However, due to its rapid development, it was elevated to full and complete university status on November 12th, 1996. It was given the name Maejo University which was immediately approved by the national parliament.
Under the Ministry of Education, Maejo University is a degree-granting institute that educates students in practical agriculture in order to prepare them for agricultural pursuits. MJU strives to nurture and develop its graduates to become technically competent, scholarly, and culturally mature, thereby enabling them to contribute to the future of the country. MJU’s philosophy is to focus on the development of graduates who possess wisdom, persistence, perseverance and moral integrity for the prosperity of Thai people in an agriculture-based society.
1 Faculty of Economics (FEC) The Faculty was established as the Department of Economics and Agricultural Cooperative under the Faculty of Business Administration in 1975. Later, in 1980, the department started to provide the first undergraduate program in economics and agricultural cooperative. The department was later elevated in March 20, 2005 as the FEC. FEC aims to produce intelligent and capable graduates in the economic fields, and to be a part to develop social economics to “Green Economy”.
The administration of the FEC is managed by a committee who controls and manages the courses. All tasks are under the supervision of a dean, an associate dean of academic affairs and education, an associate dean for strategy and student affairs, an associate dean for research and international affairs, and a head of dean’s office. Moreover, the research in economics and agricultural forecasting center is also supervised by the board of administrator.
Dean Dean Advisory
Associate Dean for Associate Dean for Associate Dean for Research Academic Standard Strategy and Student and International Affairs and Education Affairs Affairs
Head of Office of Director of the Economics Dean Research and Agricultural Forecasting Center
The FEC consists of 4 undergraduate programs (including B. Ec. in International Economics, B. Ec. in Cooperative Economics, B. Ec. in Economics and B. Sc. in Agricultural Natural Resources and Environmental Economics) and 2 post-graduate programmes (M. Sc. and Ph. D in Applied Economics).
The faculty emphasizes in the provision of working experience for undergraduate students in their last year of study. Students are encouraged to either work in companies or travel abroad for one semester with a partial scholarship given by the Faculty. The Faculty also has several scholarships for students and assistant lecturers. These scholarships include the scholarship for assistant lecturers, financial aid for students, and scholarship for higher
2 education. For postgraduate programs, students have a chance to travel abroad and have different exchanges their knowledge with foreign professors and students. The Faculty will support with travel expenses to students whose thesis or dissertation is published according to regulations of the Faculty.
Lecturers of the FEC are engaged in several fields such as, agricultural economics, agricultural natural resources and environmental economics, tourism economics, and community management. Faculty lecturers also conduct integrated research with lectures from other faculties and institutes. In order to provide complete service of research, the faculty established the economics research and agricultural forecasting center. The center provides research administration and census such as agriculture, agricultural forecast, etc. The results from census are used to help direct the community, and also given to the government for consideration.
International Economics Program (IEP) In a push to help the integration of Thailand to AEC, the FEC established the IEP in 2015. At the time, the FEC sought after the establishment of a bilingual academic programme that would help in the creation of a labor force that would be competitive in Thailand as well as the ASEAN region. The board of the FEC concluded that in order to reach this goal, the new programme should first be a major in International Economics, and second, use English and Thai as a medium of instruction.
From its conception, the IEP was established thinking that it will undergo the Thailand’s Quality Framework (TQF), which is why the IEP’s programme specification (2015 version) was developed using the TQF’s criterions. During the 2016 academic year, the board of the IEP decided to change the quality assessment from TQF to AUN-QA. The board believes that following the AUN-QA criterions will help the IEP put forth a path that will secure the IEP’s position as an economic programme. The IEP is the first programme of MJU to attempt this move, and thus has experienced a series of changes. Among the changes, the process and information used to develop the programme curriculum has been modified (information detailed in Criterion 1). Other changes include modifications on the information that is required for the course curriculum to be comprehensive, and the approaches used to teach and evaluate student learning have been.
3 These changes are substantial and have a strong effect on the aims of the IEP. Initially, the IEP aimed to produce graduates that can describe and analyze economic problems and situations by applying international economic theory and its supportive fields including finance, agriculture and law. The changes in the process in developing the new course curriculum have been vital in updating the programme aims and helping the programme satisfy the stakeholders’ needs and requirements. The new aim of the IEP is then to produce professionals with a strong foundation in economic theory and a specialization in international economic theory that will help them form arguments that will help assess and recommend solutions to issues in the real world both in a local and international context.
4 PART 2 AUN CRITERIONS
1. Expected Learning Outcomes At the moment the IEP is working with two programme specifications (2015 version and a 2020 version). As previously mentioned, the IEP decided to undergo AUN – QA a year after the program started accepting students in 2015. Consequentially, the PLOs developed for the 2015 programme specification version had to be formulated based on the existing programme and course curriculum. In turn, the formulation of the new PLOs (2020 version) are based on several important principles including stakeholder requirements, outcome based education and constructive alignment. In this section we will only mention the PLOs for the 2015 version of the programme curriculum. In turn, when explaining the PLOs for the 2020 version, we will focus more on the process and output used to develop the PLOs for the 2020 programme since this version was formulated considering the AUN-QA criterias.
1.1. The expected learning outcomes have been clearly formulated and aligned with the vision and mission of the university The 2015 version of the program aims to prepare graduates that are able to describe and analyze economic problems and situations by applying international economic theory and its supportive fields including finance, agriculture, and law. Moreover, these students should learn lifelong learning skills that help keep their knowledge and skills up to date, so that they can compete in the current labor market, and/or continue their study in any master’s in Economics. In order to develop graduates with this profile, the expected learning outcomes of the program (PLO) were formulated as shown in Table 1.1. The PLOs are clear and concise. Moreover, they are also written taking into account that learning is a process, which is why they include an introductory component as well as intermediate and advance components.
5 Table 1.1. Expected learning outcomes of the International Economics Programme and graduate student profile (developed for the 2015 programme specification).
Profile of students upon graduation PLO Contents Describe major economic PLO 1 concepts and principles Recognize the external fields that provide support to the understanding of international PLO 2 Graduate students from the International economic subjects including Economics Program (IEP) possess a strong mathematics, statistics, finance, foundation in international economics and agriculture, business and law disciplines that are closely related to this Explain the theories that are domain; moreover, these students have the PLO 3 involved in the international ability to apply such knowledge to assess and economics domain recommend solutions to current issues affecting Explain the mathematical and international trade and international finance. statistical principles that are PLO 4 IEP graduates can practice lifelong learning involved in quantitative skills that help them keep their knowledge and economic analysis skill set up to date with the ever-changing Construct econometric models to PLO 5 global economy. analyses economic data Implement economic theories IEP Graduates have the ability to compete and and econometric models to assess succeed in the current labor market by working PLO 6 and recommend solutions to well in multiple working environments, issues related to international communicating effectively with colleges, and economics upholding moral values and ethics in the Prepare and show effective oral workplace and written forms of PLO 7 communication in English and Thai Manage a conducive working PLO 8 environment through effective leadership and team work skills
The 2020 version of the program aims to prepare professionals that have a strong foundation in economic theory, and have strong quantitative literacy skills that enable them to analyze and interpret economic data. Graduate students from the IEP are able to assess and make recommendations to real world economic issues. Furthermore, they are ready to pursue a master’s degree in International Economics, or other related fields. In order to develop graduates with this profile, the expected learning outcomes of the program (PLO) were formulated as shown in Table 1.2. The PLOs are clear and concise. We believe that learning works best when it is compartmentalized into blocks. For such reason we first defined a
6 student profile, and then categorized the important competences into different learning blocks. The blocks were then attached to a number of PLOs as can be seen in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2. Expected learning outcomes of the International Economics Programme and graduate student profile (developed for the 2020 programme specification).
Block KSA PLO Dom1 Cat2 K Produce correct economic arguments when Cog Cre Economic Theory 1 assessing the consequences of real world events on the economy S Produce empirical evidence that will help Cog Cre 2 evaluate an economic argument using the Quantitative appropriate statistical tools. analysis and A Recognizes the need to follow a strong Aff Vl Research 3 code of ethics and morals when conducting research. Employability K, S, Prepare effective oral and written forms of Cog Cre 4 Skills A communication in English and Thai Demonstrate good interpersonal skills Aff Vl including strategic thinking, self-learning, 5 team working skills that will help manage a good working environment Possess critical thinking and problem Cog Cre 6 solving skills Profile of students upon graduation Graduate students from the International Economics Program (IEP) possess a strong foundation in economic theory, a specialization in international economic theory, and have the ability to apply such knowledge to assess and recommend solutions to issues in the real world both in a local and international context. Furthermore, students from the IEP are able to conduct research since they possess a strong knowledge and practice of the techniques that are necessary for the analysis and interpretation of quantitative data as well as the analysis of economic issues. Furthermore, they have the skills necessary to communicate such knowledge and findings in a clear and concise manner through different mediums including written and oral. Students graduated from the IEP; therefore, are prepared to either directly enter the workforce or continue a master’s degree program in International Economics, or other related fields. Graduate students from the IEP are able to compete and succeed in the current labor market because they are leaders who work well in teams, practice lifelong learning skills that help them willing to discover, digest and critically assess new knowledge. Furthermore, they are strategists who take initiative, possess problem solving skills, while holding the moral high ground in whatever work or project he/she is part of. Note: 1Domain refers to Bloom’s domain of learning. Cog and Aff refers to the cognitive and affective. 2 Cat refers to category, which is the level of learning within each domain. Cre refers to the creative level of the cognitive domain, while Vl refers to the valuing levels of the affective domain.
7 Formulation of PLO for International Economics Program
The process of formulation of the PLO includes the following steps:
1. Identification of stakeholders
The formulation of PLO starts with the identification of the stakeholders. For this, the IEP conducts a meeting where the stakeholders are identified based on the importance these actors have over the program structure. We determined how important each stakeholder was by asking how drastic would the programme specification and course curriculum change if the needs and requirements of that particular stakeholder change. To illustrate, let us consider the importance of employers as stakeholders. The competences required by employers do have a substantial effect on the skills and knowledge graduates need to have in order to compete in the labor market. If for example, employers required students with the ability to conduct research activities, then the formulation of the PLOs and the course curriculum should be geared towards the development of research skills. Likewise, changes from priorities of MJU and policies of the Office of Higher Education of Thailand (OHEC) would have obvious dramatic consequences on a program’s aims and outcomes.
The academic staff of the IEP identified as stakeholders, the potential employers of students graduated from international economics programs including commercial and government banks, the alumni of the IEP, managers from Master’s programs in Economics and related fields. Other stakeholders include university regulations and planning from Maejo University and Thailand’s Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC). The reasoning behind each of the stakeholders and their inclusion into the formulation of this year’s PLO is given in Table 1.3.
The identification and revision of the stakeholders will take place every five years or exactly the 1st year after a new program specification has been implemented (program specification development described in more detail in sections 2.1 and 2.2.).
8 Table 1.3. Stakeholders of the IEP
Included in Stakeholder Reason PLO (2020) a. Employers Competences required by the employers have significant Potential implications on the formation and practice of the learning employers outcomes. Any changes brought about by the labor market would require that the program specification be modified to fit the demands of the labor market. b. Alumni Experience of the IEP alumni are a valuable source of Not included information for the development and the continuous improvement of the PLO and program specification of the IEP. c. Master’s Through experience and information gathered from the Potential program employers, the staff of the IEP recognizes the advantages a programs post graduate degree would bring to a person wishing to work in labor markets related to economics. Such skills and knowledge fall out of the scope of an undergraduate degree. However, the IEP can include in its PLO development, the knowledge and skills required for students to successfully enter a postgraduate degree. For this reason, managers from master’s degree programs are included as stakeholders. d. Maejo The university’s strategies, goals, vision and mission have MJU and University important implications on the kinds of courses added to the FEC vision programme specification. IEP must also follow the set of and mission regulations concerning programme and course specifications. e. OHEC IEP has to follow the regulations and minimum Thailand requirements from the Office of Higher Education Qualification Commision of Thailand. These regulations reflect the Framework requirements brought about at the national level as well as education plans from the Ministry of Education.
2. Inquiry and identification of stakeholder’s needs and requirements
Right after the stakeholders are identified, a committee within the IEP was assigned with the task to inquire and collect the needs and requirements of the stakeholders outside of the university including potential employers and the alumni. In order to ensure the highest objectivity, quality and reliability of the information, we approached this inquiry with the same ethical and research standards as those given to a research project. The lecturer collected the needs and requirements through a series of interviews with the different stakeholders (Exhibit 1.1). The committee will then proceed to synthesize the needs and requirements from the stakeholders into a set of work competences.
9 It is important to point out that the needs and requirements collected include the desired competences in terms of specific skills and knowledge, which will be used to formulate the specific learning outcomes. Furthermore, the stakeholder inquiry will gather the desired employability skills and attitudes the stakeholders required (which will be used to formulate the generic learning outcomes).
3. Formation of graduate student profile
The main competences identified in the stakeholders’ needs and requirements serve as the main input in forming the graduate student profile for the IEP. The graduate student profile is first written, and then passed on to a committee where they will evaluate the appropriateness of the profile, and if necessary recommend changes to the profile. The graduate student profile developed for the present program specification is shown alongside the PLO in Table 1.1.
4. Formation of generic and specific learning outcomes
The main input for the formation of the generic and specific learning outcomes is the student graduate profile (which reflects the needs and requirements of stakeholders). After approval of the graduate student profile, the competences are organized into blocks. For the 2020 version of the curriculum, the blocks include economic theory (building an economic foundation and specialization in international economics), quantitative analysis and research (building foundation in statistics and mathematics, development of quantitative and research skills, building a code of ethics), and employability skills. Since the knowledge and skills necessary to learn economic theory and quantitative analysis and research are specific to the economics field, these are used to develop the specific learning outcomes, in turn employability skills are used to develop generic learning outcomes.
5. Harmonization and checking of learning outcomes with stakeholders including vision and mission of university
10 Since the needs and requirements of employers, alumni, and managers from postgraduate degree programs have a more substantial influence on the skills and knowledge graduate students should have by the end of their study in the IEP, we prioritized these needs when harmonizing the PLO with the vision and mission of the FEC and MJU. We reach this harmonization by matching the PLOs with components of the vision and mission of the FEC and MJU. The harmonized PLO are then evaluated for appropriateness through different channels. The first includes an internal check of the appropriateness of the PLO by the academic staff of the IEP. After this evaluation the committee proceeds to send out the prospective PLO to management in charge of strategy and policy of MJU. The last channel for checking the appropriateness of PLO comes from the recommendations made by the assessors during the program evaluations.
According to the university board, MJU’s vision is to “be an internationally recognized leading university in agricultural excellence”. To accomplish this vision, MJU proposes the following 5 points: (1) produce graduated students who have knowledge to be entrepreneurs. Graduated students are able to adapt with changes in agriculture, applied sciences, foreign languages, and information technology. (2) Create new research, innovation, and knowledge in various domains especially agriculture and applied sciences. Then, transfer knowledge and innovation to society. (3) Construct and develop integrated agricultural learning center for combining new agricultural technology knowledge with local culture. (4) conserve agricultural culture, local culture, and natural resources and (5) create and develop fairness system of administration and create strength network.
In turn, the FEC has the vision to “apply knowledge in applied economics to green economy”. Important missions of the Faculty include: (1) train graduates to have ethic values, and have the ability to apply economic theory to any change in the country’s economic environment. (2) research the body of literature in economics and applied economics in order to develop the “Green Economy”. (3) provide academic services in cooperation with other institutes at both national and international level. (4) maintain art, culture, resource and environment conservation. (5) improve the administrative system to be more efficient, effective, and transparent.
We observe that there are several aspects of the vision and mission of the university that are complementary with the needs and requirements of stakeholders. In terms of knowledge of economic theory, graduates from the FEC are able to apply economic
11 knowledge. This goes in tandem with the student profile shown in Table 1.2 where it states that the students of the IEP are able to “apply knowledge in economic theory to assess and recommend solutions to issues in the real world both in the international and national contexts. PLO 1 is well aligned with the aforementioned statement. In order to produce economic arguments, a person should be able to apply economic theory in the analysis of real world events. In turn PLOs 2 and 3 are well aligned with the research aspect and formation of ethical values of the vision and mission of MJU and FEC. In turn PLOs 4, 5, and 6 contribute to the creation of professionals who are adaptable in a working environment.
1.2. The expected learning outcomes cover both subject specific and generic learning outcome. As mentioned in the fourth step of formation of PLO we discussed in the previous section, the process we use to formulate the PLO ensures that both specific and generic PLOs are covered. Here is a good time to talk about the blocks that we used to compartmentalize the PLOs (Table 1.2 and 1.4). PLO 1 is arranged into a block we call Economic Theory. PLO 1 covers both building the foundation of economic theory and specialization of international economics. In turn PLOs 2 and 3 are all compartmentalized into the quantitative analysis and research blocks which focus on building skills and ethics that are specific to the economics domain.
Table 1.4. Programme learning outcomes and categories of learning outcomes PLO Category Produce correct economic arguments when assessing the consequences of real 1 Specific world events on the economy Produce empirical evidence that will help evaluate an economic argument Specific 2 using the appropriate statistical tools. Recognizes the need to follow a strong code of ethics and morals when Specific 3 conducting research. 4 Prepare effective oral and written forms of communication in English and Thai Generic Demonstrate good interpersonal skills including strategic thinking, self- 5 learning, team working skills that will help manage a good working Generic environment 6 Possess critical thinking and problem solving skills Generic
12 In turn, we have found that several generic skills or transferable skills are ones that build up employability, for such reason we have decided to accommodate all of the transferable skills that the stakeholders require into the employability skills block. These include formation of students that demonstrate good levels of communication in its different forms, and other characteristics that would be considered as very attractive competencies for future employers. To be more specific in what it is meant by interpersonal skills, the following “abilities” are of great importance:
• An ability to take assignments and carry out agreed tasks. • An ability to evaluate team performance objectively • Ability to self-evaluate critically • Ability to take leadership • Time management • Independent learning • Strategic thinking
In turn important abilities we refer to when mentioning communication skills are the following:
• An ability to write clear and concise answers to questions related to the lessons learned in the class using their own wording and interpretation. • An ability to communicate orally information and ideas using different mediums. • An ability to listen and defend their ideas with sound arguments.
1.3. The expected learning outcome clearly reflect the requirements of the stakeholders The results of the stakeholders’ need and requirements (Exhibit 1.2) show that the stakeholders need workers who have a strong background on economic theory, have the ability to do research, collect, analyze and interpret economic data through the use of econometric models. We build the PLOs to ensure that learning outcomes reflect the requirements of the stakeholders. We do this through two channels. The first takes place when the IEP is in the process of developing the new program and course specification (every 5 years). As we previously described in criterions 1.1 to 1.2, PLOs of the IEP are brought about by a process that includes an in depth interviews with external stakeholders identified in Table 1.3, and harmonization of prospective PLOs with university vision and mission and
13 OHEC/TQF needs and requirements. Overall process was described in 1.1, and the resulting PLOs are shown in Table 1.2.
The second channel includes satisfaction and feedback from stakeholders including those mentioned in Table 1.3 and feedback from academic staff within the program and current students. The way in which this information will be collected is described in Exhibit 1.3. This channel ensures that the PLOs are kept relevant and are consistently aligned with all of the stakeholder needs and requirements.
Table 1.3. Matching between Program learning outcomes and Thailand quality framework Higher Education desired characteristics PLO Ethics Knowledge Cognitive Interpersonal Analytical and skill skill skills morals 1 2 3 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ 4 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ 5 ⃝ 6 ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ 2. Programme Specification We mentioned that the IEP is currently working with two versions of the programme specification. In order to not get confused with which programme specification we are referring to, we refer to one of the programme specifications as the 2015 version (Exhibit 2.1) and the 2020 version of the programme specification (Exhibit 2.2).
In order to comply with MJU’s regulations, major changes to new program specifications are completed in five year intervals (process illustrated in Figure 2.1). The process starts one year after the program has been placed into effect. As explained in criterion 1, the first year is used to identify the stakeholders, and elicit their needs and requirements. During year 2, we proceed to develop the new program and curriculum specification by first translating the needs and requirements of stakeholders into PLOs, and then develop the new program and curriculum specification. During the third and fourth year, the new program and curriculum specification is then evaluated for appropriateness and quality first by the board of the IEP, and then by external assessors including those from AUN-QA and an independent
14 specialist. The new program and curriculum specification is then submitted for approval to both the board of the university, and the OHEC. Once the program has gain approval, the programme specification will be placed into effect during the fifth year.
Figure 2.1. Timeline for programme specification and curriculum formation
At the moment the 2020 programme specification is undergoing examination, and needs to gain approval by the university board as well as OHEC. Once the programme gains approval it will be put into practice for the 2021 academic year.
2.1. The information in the programme specification is comprehensive and up-to-date In this section we would like to focus the reader’s attention to the 2020 programme specification because of two reasons. Firstly, the IEP was already working with an existing course curriculum when the faculty decided to follow AUN-QA requirements. A second reason is related to the type of changes the OHEC allows the academic programmes to do on their curriculums. Curriculum changes are categorized into major changes and minor changes. Adding the requirements from stakeholders would require an overhaul of the programme specification which is why the faculty staff of the IEP decided to slightly modify the 2015 version of the programme specification so that it shows the information that is required for completing criteria 2.1. In turn, the 2020 version is a large modification of the 2015 version is made based on stakeholders needs.
15 System used to update the Program Specification
Similar to the PLOs, the program specification is kept up to date through two channels. The first channel is illustrated in Figure 2.1. It attempts to cover all changes that are coming from needs and requirements from external stakeholders including the potential employers, the alumni, managers of master’s degree programs, regulations from MJU and OHEC. As we previously mentioned changes from stakeholders’ needs and requirements would have a significant impact on the PLOs which by extension would require major changes to the programme specification.
The second channel ensures that the programme is updated through an inquiry that elicits the stakeholders’ satisfaction levels. The output of this inquiry serves as input for an internal evaluation of the program specification. This evaluation is done in an annual basis, and seeks to maintain and/or improve the quality of the programme specification. The evaluation will then yield a set of recommendations might require minor changes be made to the programme specification. It is important to note that these would be minor changes, since major changes are only allowed when the entire program specification is done. The programme specification is then modified based on these recommendations in a period less than a month after the evaluation. The changes in the programme specification will then be revised by the board of the IEP, and if approved will then be made available to the different channels used to communicate with the different stakeholders the following academic year.
2.2. The information in the course specification is comprehensive and up-to-date The 2015 version of the course specification can be found in Exhibits 2.3 and 2.4 (Exhibit 2.3 shows contains the course syllabus format following MJU regulations, in turn 2.4 contains a sample of the new format to be used for the course syllabus). The course specification has been modified to comply with the AUN-criteria. For the 2015 version of the course specification, each syllabus contains a description of the course and its aim, as well as a list of the prerequisites if needed. The course learning outcomes were written based on Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning. Furthermore, constructive alignment was used to ensure that the learning activities and assessment help achieve the CLOs. The courses included in the 2020 programme specification are still under discussion, thus subject to change. For this reason, the IEP academic staff has decided to include a sample of the 2020 version of the course specification in this year’s SAR. The IEP has
16 elaborated a system that helps the faculty staff evaluate whether the instructor provides all the information that is required to make the syllabus comprehensive. The instructors are given a sample of IEP’s course syllabus (Exhibit 2.5). The instructors are then tasked to fill in the course syllabus 18 pieces of information of the course syllabus following the instructions indicated in Exhibit 2.5. The instructor then submits the course syllabus together with a checklist (Exhibit 2.6). Both documents are subject to evaluation. If an instructor does not comply with this regulation, he/she will first be given a warning, and asked to fill in the missing information. If the instructor still does not comply with the minimum requirements of the course syllabus, he /she will be considered as unfit to teach the course. The course will then be assigned to another instructor. The channels through which the IEP updates the programme specification are also used to modify and update the course specification. The first channel illustrated in Figure 2.1 serves to align the course specification with the PLOs developed in the new program specification. As mandated by the TQF and MJU regulations, major revisions to the course specification are carried out every five years. We will use this as reference point in our programme. Following the development of the PLOs and the programme specification, the course specification is then revised through a number of steps. First, we will develop what we call a “course skeleton map” that will serve as a benchmark. The course skeleton map is basically a map that lists and connects all of the courses that are taught in international economics programs in prestigious universities outside and inside of Thailand. The course skeleton map serves as a framework in which the academic staff of the IEP can look at when deciding which course will help students achieve the PLOs. Once a potential course curriculum is organized, it under goes a checking process similar to that explained in Figure 2.1. The second channel is similar to the one used to make minor revisions for the programme specification (2.1.). The second channel ensures that every course is aligned with minor changes done in the programme specification. Something important to note is that the course specification undergoes a series of evaluations each semester (we will explain more about these evaluations in criterion 4.2). The objective of these evaluations is to monitor the quality of the course content, achievement of CLOs, and recommend changes to each course. This will allow the IEP to keep the course specification up to date.
17 2.3. The programme and course specifications are communicated and made available to the stakeholders The IEP programme and course specifications are available to all stakeholders on the faculty’s website (http://www.econ.mju.ac.th). These are also distributed to stakeholders through brochures and trifolds. These documents are also available for academic staff through program meetings. The expected learning outcomes and the program and course specification will be repeatedly communicated to students, first during the IEP orientation for freshman, and later during meetings with students throughout their study at IEP. The students will have ready access to the course syllabus during the first day of class for that course.
3. Programme structure and content The translation of the PLOs into the curriculum starts by first extracting a set of courses from the course skeleton (Exhibit 3.1) that will help learners achieve the IEP PLOs. The courses are then organized into a logical sequence, and also added or taken out of the curriculum in order to ensure that altogether, the courses help achieve the learning outcomes. We can summarize this information into a curriculum matrix (Table 3.1). This process will ensure that the curriculum has a logical sequence and structure. Then, each academic staff is tasked to develop the learning outcomes for each course (CLO). The CLOs should be concise, measurable, and are based on the PLO the course is attached to. The CLOs are subject to revision and update based on the two channels explained in section 2.2.
We then elaborate a list of recommended learning methods and assessments that are most appropriate for the courses. We previously mentioned that each course and its CLOs are tied to a number of PLOs, which in turn are assigned to a domain of learning and need to contribute to help students reach a specific level of cognitive learning (Table 1.2). This, in tandem with the programme’s education philosophy, will help in determining the recommended teaching and learning methods as well as the assessment for each course (list of recommended assessments shown in Exhibit 3.2. Something worth noting is that the teaching and assessments recommended in Exhibit 3.2 should serve as a guideline. The instructor can choose a specialized form of teaching method and/or assessment whenever achieving the expected learning outcomes for a course requires it. As in the formulation of the CLOs, the learning methods, assessments and their alignment with the CLOs are subject to revision and update based on the two channels explained in section 2.2.
18 The outcome of this process includes a complete curriculum that contains a curriculum matrix and a constructive alignment of curriculum, which are shown in sections 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.
3.1. The curriculum is designed based on constructive alignment with the expected learning outcomes As previously mentioned we have compartmentalized the competences of students upon graduation into blocks (Economic theory, quantitative analysis and research and employability skills). This information was then used to formulate both the specific and generic learning outcomes. The specific PLOs that requires the learning of knowledge and intellectual skills have been attached to Bloom’s cognitive domain (PLOs 1 and 2). In turn, the PLOs related to ethics practiced in the economic profession is attached to the affective domain (PLO 3). Communication skills, critical thinking and problem solving are attached to Bloom’s cognitive domain (PLOs 4 and 6). Other employability skills are represented by PLO 5.
In order to ensure that the curriculum is aligned with the curriculum, the IEP matched each course to at least one specific learning outcome and to at least one generic learning outcome (as shown in Table 3.1). In order to fully achieve a particular learning outcome, the student must successfully pass courses that are formed to introduce, develop and master a particular PLO. This is important information when formulating the course learning outcomes (CLO). Courses who introduce a PLO, would have learning outcomes of lower order of taxonomy (i.e. “remember” and “understand” in the cognitive domain). In turn, courses who develop a PLO would have CLOs of a mid-level order (i.e. “apply” and “analyze”). By extension, courses who master the PLO would have CLOs of a high level of learning (“evaluate” and “create”). This process was repeated for all of the PLOs, and the determination of the level (introductory, intermediate and advance) of the course was made based on the contribution each course provides to the achievement of PLOs. In Table 3.1, all courses included in the “Economic theory foundation” introduce PLOs 1, 4, 5 and/or 6. Consequentially, the courses are considered introductory courses. A similar method was used to determine which courses are intermediate and which ones are advanced.
Constructive alignment was then used to determine the kind of teaching method and assessment that would be appropriate for each class. Exhibit 3.2 shows the recommended
19 learning methods and assessments that are to be attached to each expected learning outcome, and by extension the courses that are attached to these PLOs. The inquiry of stakeholder needs and requirements has really brought about the importance of the employability skills for the formation of student competences. For this reason, the curriculum of the IEP has decided to have each course attached to a number of generic outcomes as shown in Table 3.1. Likewise, the recommended assessments and learning methods recommended for these outcomes are described in Exhibit 3.2.
3.2. The contribution made by each course to achieve the expected learning outcomes is clear The contribution of each of the courses is specified in the curriculum matrix that is shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1. Curriculum Matrix (2020 version subject to change) Specific Generic Core Courses (43 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Economic Theory foundation (16 credits) Fundamentals of Economics IN Re I I I Microeconomic Theory I IN Re I I I I Macroeconomic Theory I IN Re I I I I Microeconomic Theory II IN Re I I I I Macroeconomic Theory II IN Re I I I I Math and Quantitative analysis foundation (12 Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 credits) Mathematics for Economists I IN Re I I Statistics for Economists I IN Re I I Mathematics for Economists II IN Re I I I Quantitative analysis IN Re I I I International Economics Foundation (15 Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 credits) International Trade I IM Re D I D D Money, Banking and Finance IM Re D I D D International Trade 2 IM Re D I D D International Finance IM Re D I D D International Macroeconomics IM Re D I D D Major Required Course (36 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Specialization in International Economics (9 credits) Major issues in international trade AD Re M D D M M International Agricultural trade and policy AD Re M D D M M
20 Specific Generic Core Courses (43 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 World Economy AD Re M D M M Research and Quantitative Analysis (9 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Econometrics IM Re D I D D Research methodology AD Re M D M D M Programming and data analysis for economists AD Re M D M M Workforce preparation (9 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Systematic approaches to problem solving IM F I D D English for Economists IM Re I D D D Preparation for academic forums in Economics AD F M M M Capstone research project (9 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Special topics in International Economics AD Re M M M M M M Independent study (498) AD Re M M M M M M Major Elective Course (15 credits) Level Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 Specialization in International Economics
Investment analysis in equity, bonds and AD El M D M M Derivatives East Asian Economies AD El M D M M International monetary economics and finance AD El M D M M World Food Economics AD El M D M M Economic Development AD El M D M M Introduction to agribusiness Management IM El D D M Principles of agricultural Marketing IM El D D M Research and Quantitative Analysis Survey development and data analysis AD El M M M M Programming for economists AD El M M M M
3.3. The curriculum is logically structured, sequenced, integrated and up-to-date The curriculum is logically structured and sequenced as shown in the curriculum matrix (Table 3.1), the course mapping (Figure 3.1) and the course schedule (Figure 3.2). The students start by building a foundation in economic theory, mathematics and quantitative analysis. At this point, all of the courses included are introductory courses, and are offered to students during their first and part of their second year of study in the IEP. After building a strong foundation in economic theory, students are ready to develop a foundation in international economics. During the second and first half of third year students will take intermediate courses related to international trade (yellow portion) and international macroeconomics/finance (orange portion). The IEP provides a set of advanced elective during the student’s third year of study. This would allow for students to specialize in international trade international macroeconomics/finance and/or a combination of both.
21 Working in tandem with forming a foundation and specialization in international economics is the development of research and quantitative analysis. As observed in Table 3.1, the courses included in this group are intermediate (scheduled during their second and part of their third study) and advanced courses (scheduled during their third and part of their fourth year of study). Previously we mentioned that every course should have at least one specific PLO and one generic PLO attached to it. The progress of how the students achieve the generic learning outcomes is shown in Table 3.1.
Figure 3.1. Course mapping for the IEP (2020 version) At the end of their study, students need to complete a capstone research project that consists of two courses, namely, “Special topics in international economics” and “Independent study”. Together with a research advisor, students will have to complete a research project in any of the fields related to economics.
It is worth mentioning that the channels used to evaluate and update the programme and course specification are also used to incorporate required modifications to the programme curriculum and schedule.
22
Figure 3.2. Course schedule for the IEP (2020 version)
4. Teaching and Learning Approach 4.1. The educational philosophy is well articulated and communicated to all stakeholders MJU’s philosophy is quoted as being, “Our philosophy is to focus on the development of graduates who possess wisdom, persistence, perseverance and moral integrity for the prosperity of Thai people in an agriculture-based society”. In turn, the FEC philosophy is quoted as “To produce the graduates who are good, intellectual and have the ability to participate in the development of Thai economy, society, natural resources and environment. Upon careful inspection, the academic staff of the IEP has found that these statements are quite broad yet really specific in one discipline, and thus difficult to provide a set strategy in which we can base our teaching approach for an IEP. It is worth mentioning that MJU is still developing its own educational philosophy.
We do see necessary for the IEP to work on an educational philosophy that is based on the needs and requirements of the stakeholders and the philosophies mentioned in the last paragraph, since it will provide a framework for the instructors to develop the most appropriate teaching and assessment methods for the students to achieve the expected
23 learning outcomes. Once MJU determines a sound educational philosophy, we will use it to determine the learning and teaching methods for the IEP.
Based on the needs and requirements, MJU and FEC philosophy, we believe that the following components are necessary to be included in the education of our students.
Knowledge and skills and the act of gaining and pursuing it: It is important to point out that developing a philosophy in learning needs to consider the learning process together with the roles of the instructors in education. At the start, it is of utmost importance that students build and consolidate a strong foundation. Thus the role of the instructor is to use the tools and methods that are most appropriate to introduce students to economic theory, and help them build such foundation. At this point, students are more dependent on the instruction of the lecturer. However, they need to actively engage in their learning and provide feedback on their progress. We believe that it is important to instil the skills that are necessary for students to become avid independent learners. As the students go through more advanced courses, the instructor becomes a more of a guide that will use a practical learning methods and tools that will enable students to develop important skills including problem solving, critical thinking that will help develop self-learning ability. Such skills will help students become self- learners.
Applied research: Research is important in helping students learn how to pursue knowledge, and by the same token, be great assets for the development of the Thai economy. For such reason, we believe that integrating research into the curriculum is of great importance in developing the necessary skills for students to start conducting applied research.
Communication: We believe that communication in both written and oral forms are an important component of a professional in any kind of field. Development of knowledge and skills are limited if a professional is not able to transfer such knowledge to others.
Ethics and morals: Formation of values, ethics and morals comes together with expertise development. We firmly believe that the students are held up to the highest standards of ethics. In the pursuit of this belief, each instructor is asked to plan and develop their courses taking into consideration the ethics and morals code of MJU.
24 4.2. Teaching and learning activities are constructively aligned to the achievement of the expected learning outcomes As we mentioned in section 2.3, the alignment of teaching and learning methods with the expected learning outcomes is one of the most important components that we check for whenever a course curriculum is being developed and revised. During the development of the course curriculum we provide a list of recommended teaching and learning methods that could be used for each kind of course (Exhibit 3.2). The instructors are then given the choice to the methods he/she thinks are most appropriate for the student to achieve the expected outcome of each course. The IEP monitors the actual practices of teaching and learning and their alignment with the learning outcomes through several means including the “Pre- semester course evaluation” and the “Post-semester course evaluation”. The goals and description of these evaluations are shown in Exhibit 4.1 and Exhibit 4.2.
In a nut shell, the Pre-semester course evaluation will help the IEP monitor whether (1) the CLOs are aligned with the intended PLOs, (2) learning outcomes, teaching and learning methods and assessment are aligned with each other, (3) improvements based on feedback from last year’s pre and post course evaluations are included in the course syllabus.
In turn, the Post-semester course evaluation will help the IEP monitor that the instructors put into practice the plans set forth from the course syllabus, successfully use constructive alignment between learning outcomes, teaching and learning methods in the delivery of their course, and include improvements of course syllabus according to recommendations made by pre-semester course evaluation. Furthermore, the Post-semester course evaluation will help monitor student’s achievement of learning outcomes, progress and academic performance. A third major function of the Post-semester course evaluation is to review and evaluate the alignment and relevance of teaching and learning as well as the quality of assessments including examinations, written reports, etc.
4.3. Teaching and learning activities enhance life-long learning
The 2015 version of the course curriculum is quite different from the one planned for 2020. Consequentially, the strategies used for life-long learning require some modification. In the 2015 version of the course curriculum, lifelong learning skills were developed through
25 phases as illustrated in Figures 4.1. For the first year, courses were designed to build foundation in broad topic from economics, mathematics, statistics, finance, agriculture, and English. Later during the second year, the courses will help consolidate and integrate the international economics theories from international finance and international trade. Moreover, during this year students will also start integrating quantitative analysis into economics. The third and fourth year courses were designed in a way that will motivate students to conduct self-study while lectures only serve as a guide. Throughout these courses students will apply knowledge through the use of paper reading and improve the communication skill through the presentation of economic literature. This will instil life-long learning that will help the student competence. During the students four years of study, the IEP provides courses and activities that will improve the students’ communication skill both in Thai and English. Furthermore, internship and field trip are used to expose students to the current demand labor market.
Figure 4.1. Life-long learning strategies 2015 version
A different approach was taken in the development of the lifelong learning strategies for the 2020 version of the course curriculum. The IEP first identified the lifelong learning skills that are important for graduates to have. These skills were identified based on the needs and requirements obtained from the stakeholders needs and requirements. The lifelong
26 learning skills that were included in the 2020 version of the course curriculum are the following:
• Critical inquiry • Problem solving • Independent learning • Apply previous knowledge to new knowledge • Information processing learning and management • Effective communication • Leadership skills • Collaboration skills • Effective communication
Previously we mentioned how we compartmentalized the graduate student profile into learning blocks, and how these blocks were used to formulate the PLOs. We then used this information to construct the 2020 version of the course mapping for the IEP, and integrate the development of the lifelong learning skills into the curriculum. As shown in Table 4.1, several lifelong learning skills have been attached to the achievement of a PLO. To illustrate this point we will use PLO 1 as an example of how lifelong learning has been integrated to the PLOs.
In order to produce economic arguments, a person should be able to critically review the evidence that is currently available (critical inquiry), be able to gather information from different sources in order to form a good argument (information processing learning and management). Furthermore, the person building the economic argument should be an avid independent learner who pursues knowledge and uses the knowledge he previously learning to learn new knowledge (independent learning and ability to apply previous knowledge to new knowledge). The same process applies to PLO 2, where producing valid empirical evidence that will help evaluate economic arguments will need lifelong learning skills that involve critical inquiry, problem solving and information processing learning and management, apply previous knowledge to new knowledge. In terms of the employability skills it is worth noting that each generic PLOs represent a version of the lifelong learning skills we previously mentioned.
27 Table 4.1. Life-long learning strategies 2020 version Lifelong learning skills Block Programme Learning Outcome involved Critical inquiry, information Produce economic arguments processing learning and Economic when assessing the consequences 1. management, independent Theory of real world events on the learning, apply previous economy knowledge to new knowledge. Critical inquiry, problem Produce empirical evidence that Quantitative solving and information will help evaluate an economic analysis and 2. processing learning and argument using the appropriate Research management, apply previous statistical tools. knowledge to new knowledge Prepare effective oral and written 4. forms of communication in Effective communication English and Thai. Demonstrate good interpersonal Employability skills including strategic thinking, Leadership skills and Skills 5. self-learning, team working skills collaboration skills that will help manage a good working environment Possess critical thinking and Critical inquiry and problem 6. problem solving skills solving skills
Another way the IEP is attempting to enhance life-long learning is to motivate students to keep developing lifelong learning skills after they graduate from the IEP. We believe that we can promote lifelong learning after students graduate from the IEP by motivating students to continue their education, and enroll in Master degree programmes. For such reason the IEP is establishing agreements with postgraduate programmes in the economics and related fields. Our intention is to keep students motivated in pursuing a postgraduate degree, keep them engaging in lifelong learning since the start of their study in the IEP. At the moment, the IEP has a mutual agreement with the M. Sc. Programme in Applied Economics, MJU, and is currently pursuing another mutual agreement with the MBA Programme from the Faculty of Business Administration, MJU. Establishing these agreements with postgraduate programmes would also provide an opportunity to evaluate lifelong learning since they are included as important stakeholders for the IEP. Feedback from these programmes will be used to evaluate and make improvements to the IEP curriculum.
28 5. Student Assessment 5.1. The student assessment is constructively aligned to the achievement of the expected learning outcomes In section 2.2 and 4.2, we showed how the IEP monitors the actual practice of the teaching and learning methods, and how they help achieve the expected learning outcomes using the Pre and post semester course evaluation. This practice also extends to the alignment of the assessments with the expected learning outcomes. The IEP provides a set of recommended assessments that can be used in the development of the syllabus of each course (Exhibit 3.2). The instructors are given the choice to choose whatever assessment would be the most appropriate for the student to achieve the expected outcome of each course. Instructors are free to choose the assessment that best fits the achievement of the learning outcomes even if they are not included in the list of recommended assessments for said course.
During their fourth year of study, students will need to complete a capstone research project for a full year. The capstone research project is used as a final test before graduation, and consists of a full research article and a presentation in a mini-conference arranged by the IEP. As shown in Exhibit (10.1) the assessment is formed so that it can measure the overall achievement of the learning outcomes.
5.2. The student assessments including timelines, methods, regulations, weight distribution, rubrics and grading are explicit and communicated to students As part of the IEP guidelines for instructors, the instructors need to provide information about the course syllabus, including timelines, methods, regulations, weight distribution, rubrics and grading distribution during their first week of taking the course. The pre and post semester course evaluations as well as interviews with students (Exhibit 5.1) will also be used to ensure that the instructors explain all the details of the student assessment. Focus groups will be used to monitor whether students understood the kinds of assessments used by their course instructors.
29 5.3. Methods including assessment rubrics and marking schemes are used to ensure validity, reliability and fairness of student assessment As in 5.2, the IEP guidelines for instructors (Exhibit 5.2) also provide indications on the rubrics and marking schemes for the assessments. The instructors are asked to make explicit the form in which they will assess the assignments and written examination in the course syllabus. The validity and appropriateness of the assessments are evaluated in the pre- semester evaluation, while the post-semester evaluation will help to ensure that the instructors are using rubrics and marking schemes in grading written examinations, written reports, and other assessments.
5.4. Feedback of student assessment is timely and helps to improve learning We believe that early feedback is essential for student learning, and thus in our guidelines we ask that professors provide student feedback at most two weeks after the assessment has been submitted. This will give the student time to make adjustment when they study, improve study habits, participate more in class. Instructors are asked to provide feedback on all assessments used in class including written examinations, reports, assignments, and oral presentations. Furthermore, instructors are asked, when necessary, to explain to the students the areas that requires improvement. All recommendations for student feedback are provided in the IEP guidelines for instructors.
The IEP will monitor and evaluate whether student feedback is timely and helpful for through two means. The first includes an evaluation that targets the instructor. We mentioned that the IEP will routinely carry the pre and post course semester evaluation. These evaluations provide an opportunity for the IEP to monitor whether the instructor plans and carries out the feedback of student assessment using the pre and post course evaluation. The second targets the students. In order to evaluate how effective, the feedback is in enhancing student learning, the student would be a good source of information for this purpose. The IEP will carry out a student survey of quality learning in order to monitor and evaluate the timing and effectiveness of the student feedback. The process used for this student survey is explained in Exhibit 5.1.
30 5.5. Students have ready access to appeal procedure The students have the right to appeal the grade of an assessment. The appeal procedure of IEP consists of the following steps:
1. Students ask for a meeting with the course instructor. During the meeting, the professor will go through each question, and explain the reasoning behind each score. 2. If the student still has a doubt about the score despite the explanation provided by the instructor, he/she can make their appeal through a third party. Students can make their case through the president of the IEP. In cases where the course is taught by the president, the students can contact the vice president instead. The president or vicepresident will take this issue to a programme meeting where the board of the IEP will decide what will be the outcome of the appeal. The student is then informed of the outcome. 3. If students are still not satisfied with the result from the program meeting, students can make an appeal to the dean of the faculty. The dean then decides what are the steps to follow.
6. Academic Staff Quality 6.1. Academic staff planning is carried out to fulfill the needs for education, research and service The FEC sets up the regulations regarding recruitment, promotion, termination and retirement of all of the academic staff including those working in the IEP. Recognizing the importance of contributing towards the academic staff planning, the IEP monitors the workload of the academic staff, changes in the curriculum, and staff/student ratios. Whenever it is necessary for the IEP to hire or make changes to the academic staff, the IEP writes a formal letter requesting that the board of FEC consider making the desired changes for the IEP. The decision of whether the IEP performs the necessary changes in the academic staff depends on the board of FEC.
31 Table 6.1. IEP’s manpower plan for academic staff for the next 3 years (2019 – 2022)
Name Position Promotion Re-deployment Retirement Term/ Resig Move to MSc Dr. Waraporn Asst. NP programme after > 10 yr. NP Nantasen Prof. 2020 Asst. Promoted to Dr. Siwarat Prof. Asst Prof in NP > 10 yr. NP Kuson 2019 Asst. Promoted to Dr. Wanvilai Prof. Asst Prof in NP > 10 yr. NP Chulaphan 2019 Asst. Promoted to Dr. Jorge Prof. Asst Prof in NP > 10 yr. NP Barahona 2019 Dr. Kantaporn Apply for Asst. Lecturer NP > 10 yr. NP Chuangchid Prof. Returning from study Miss. Kewalin On study On study leave leave 2nd semester > 10 yr. NP Somboon leave 2019. Entering IEP in Dr. Tanchanok Asst. NP second half of 2019 > 10 yr. NP Bejrananda Prof. academic year NP denotes that there are no plans
Table 6.1 shows the plans for each of the lecturers of the IEP. The IEP has a total of six academic staff. Five staff hold a doctoral degree while the sixth holds a master’s degree (currently she is pursuing a doctoral degree at the School of Economics, Chiang Mai University). Miss Kewalin Somboon left on 2016 and will return during the second semester of the 2019 academic year. The responsibilities from Miss Kewalin were reassigned to Dr. Siwarat Kuson. In turn, Dr Waraporn will move to the M. Sc. programme during the second half of the 2019 academic year. She will be replaced by Dr. Tanchanok Bejrananda.
At the moment no faculty is planning to resign from the IEP. However, if a faculty staff wishes to resign from the IEP, according to regulations, the academic staff must give a three-month notice to the university. Furthermore, by law the instructors have a right to retire from the university when they reach 60 years of age. The IEP does not have any problems with these issues since the professors age range from 33 to 45 years of age. In addition, the instructors said that they do not have any plans of terminating their employment with Maejo University. So the teaching load of each academic staff of the IEP (Exhibit 6.1) remains
32 unchanged and does not require any modification until the new course curriculum is launched in 2020.
6.2. Staff-to-student ratio and workload are measured and monitored to improve the quality of education, research and service The IEP uses the staff-to-student ratio as a way to monitor workload from the IEP, and make a decision whether the number of academic staff is enough to assure quality in student learning. For this we will follow the OHEC recommendations of staff to student ratios in undergraduate programs in Economics. OHEC recommends that the staff to student ratio be not higher than 1:25. We will use this recommendation, and place it as a maximum staff to student ratio. We will attempt to reduce this ratio until levels comparable to those in Australian universities. Staff to student ratio for several universities in Australia falls between 1:21 and 1:22.4 in 2017-2018. These include; Charles Darwin University, Griffith University, University of Sydney (2017-2018)1.
The quality assurance section of MJU is developing a software that will enable the IEP to correctly measure the FTEs for academic staff and students. This software will be put in place in 2020. On the meantime we measure the FTEs for academic staff based on whether they are full time professors in the IEP or they are invited to teach in the IEP (full time IEP academic staff are given 1 FTE, while visiting professors are given 0.3 FTE). The IEP obtained four batches of students until the 2019 academic year. The staff-to-student ratio for the IEP is reported in Table 6.3. For the 2019 academic year, the staff to student ratio is 1:28, which is above the threshold established by the IEP (1:25). We will keep monitoring the staff-to-student ratio and ensure that we reach the recommended ratio through the following means:
1. In terms of changing the number of academic staff, the IEP follows a short term solution that includes requesting assistance from instructors of other programmes of the F FEC. A long term solution would require the recruitment of new academic staff, either an instructor that was already working at the FEC, MJU, or hiring new instructor. 2. In cases were hiring a new instructor is not feasible. We see it necessary to reduce the number of students accepted in the coming years.
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/613204/australia-universities-by-student-to-staff-ratio/
33 Table 6.2. Number of academic staff
Total Academic year Category M F % of PHD Heads FTEs Professors 0 0 0 0 Associate/assistant professors 0 1 1 1 × 1 =1 100 2015 – 2016 Full-time lecturers 2 2 4 4×1=4 100 Visiting professors/lecturers 1 0 1 1×0.3=0.3 0 Total 3 3 6 5.3 Professors 0 0 0 0 Associate/assistant professors 0 1 1 1 * 1 =1 100 2016 – 2017 Full-time lecturers 2 2 4 4*1=4 100 Visiting professors/lecturers 1 0 1 1*0.3=0.3 0 Total 3 3 6 5.3 Professors 0 0 0 0 Associate/assistant professors 0 1 1 1 * 1 =1 100 2017 – 2018 Full-time lecturers 1 3 4 4*1=4 100 Visiting professors/lecturers 2 1 3 3*0.3=0.9 66.66 Total 5.9 Professors 0 0 0 0 Associate/assistant professors 1 2 3 3 * 1 =3 100 2018 – 2019 Full-time lecturers 0 3 2 2 * 1 = 2 100 Visiting professors/lecturers 2 1 3 3 *0.3=0.9 66.66 Total 5.9 Note: A full FTE means that the instructor is a full time instructor in the IEP. These instructors work 8 hours per week, and are dedicated to the instruction and mentoring of the students from the IEP. As such these instructors are counted as 1 FTE. In turn, there are several classes that are imparted by instructors from other programmes of the FEC. These are full time instructors; however, only have the responsibility of teaching a course, and thus are considered as visiting professors or lecturers. Visiting professors are considered to contribute about 30% of their working days to the same tasks.
Table 6.3. Staff to student ratio
Academic year Total FTEs of Total FTEs of Staff to student ratio academic staff students 2015-2016 5.3 65 1:11.02 2016-2017 5.3 97 1:18.3 2017-2018 5.9 137 1:23.22 2018-2019 5.9 163 1:27.62 Note: estimation of Total FTEs of academic staff was shown in notes of Table 6.2. In turn, according to regulations of MJU and FEC all under graduate students enrolled in programmes are considered full time students. IEP does not have a part-time
34 programme, nor a night programme. As such every student that is enrolled from 1st year to 4th year is considered a full time student and thus receives a FTE of 1. FTEs for students over five years of enrollment will have an FTE equivalent to the ratio of hours enrolled in courses/hours of study required
6.3. Recruitment and selection criteria including ethics and academic freedom for appointment, deployment and promotion are determined and communicated The process of recruiting and selecting a new academic staff is fully under the control of the FEC. However, the recruitment process can start from recommendations made by the board of the IEP based on the academic staff planning. Whenever the IEP deems necessary the recruitment of new academic staff (either because one instructor decides to retire or resign, or changes in the curriculum requires the recruitment of an instructor with an expertise on a specific field). The IEP will formalize the request for hiring the new instructor through a programme meeting. Next, the IEP will discuss about the competences and requirements the new instructor needs to fulfill, and then will send a formal request to the academic board meeting of the FEC. The academic board will then decide whether the request goes through, and if so decide the terms and criteria of the selection of new academic staff. If the request is approved by the academic board of faculty, it then is submitted for approval from the University board. Upon approval by the university board, the position is announced in the MJU website (as shown in Exhibit 6.2).
Candidates who wish to apply for the position have a period of one month to prepare their applications. After this period of time, the applicants are screened by a committee set up by the FEC, and are chosen based on their competences and academic profile. The selected candidates are called for an interview which consists of written exam, oral interview, and if necessary a teaching demonstration. The written exam will be given by the instructors in economic subjects. The oral interview and teaching demonstration will be conducted by the dean, a vice dean a faculty, president of IEP, and a vice dean of a university. The candidate who gets highest score will be selected and announced through the university and faculty website. The process is then completed upon approval of the board of MJU.
The new academic staff is asked to discuss the terms of employment with the human resource department of MJU, where he/she will sign the contract, and establish a formal date where he/she will start working at the faculty. New academic staff then have to complete a
35 three-week orientation imparted by the human resource department, where they will learn about MJU culture, evaluation and promotion. The new academic staff will also need to complete a 9-month probation. During the probation, the academic staff’s performance and code of ethics will be evaluated every 3 months by the Dean of the FEC, the vice-dean as well as the president of the IEP. Employment of the new academic staff will then depend on the outcome of the evaluations. If the instructor is deemed not competent, then his/her contract will be terminated.
Promotion of academic staff follows the standard process of the university and faculty. New academic staff start their career in MJU as “Lecturers”. Career promotion begins with “assistant professor”, “associate professor”, and “professor”. Qualification and process of academic position are determined by the university based on Ministry of Education, Thailand. (Exhibit 6.3).
In order to guarantee that ethics and academic freedom are included in the recruitment of new academic staff the board of the FEC adds a third party into the selection process of new academic staff. This comes in the form of the board of the university where they revise the selection process of the new staff. Furthermore, an external assessor is included in the selection process of the new recruit. Third parties are also included when academic staff are applying for promotion. The FEC has the responsibility of ensuring fairness when the academic staff are going through a promotion process. Third parties are also included this process. If the academic staff perceives any case of wrong doing from any of the processes discussed in this section he/she can make their case with the MJU employee senate.
6.4. Competences of academic staff are identified and evaluated There are six academic staff that are presently imparting courses in IEP. In academic year 2018, two lecturers were promoted to assistant professors, while two other lecturers are still under consideration for promotion. Excluding the instructor that is on study leave, the rest of the academic staff have over 4 years of experience teaching at the university level. Around 50% of academic staff obtained their Ph. D. from a university outside of Thailand and specialize in different areas including international economics, applied economics, and agricultural economics. Furthermore, the IEP also has one full-time foreign academic staff. In terms of academic profile, we are confident in the area of expertise, experience and qualification of the academic staff of the IEP
36 Table 6.4. Total number of academic staff by category
Category Total Number with Graduate number Ph.D. abroad Professor 0 0 0 Associate/Assistant professor 3 3 (100%) 3 (100%) Full time lecturers 2 2 (100%) 0 (0%) Visiting professors from other FEC 3 2 (66.66%) 0 (0%) programmes
Table 6.5. Field of Expertise and Experience
Field of Expertise Experience Total 0.1-2 years 2-4 years >4 years (people) International Economics 1 - - 1 Applied Economics - - 1 1 Agricultural Economics - - 2 2 Economics - - 2 2 Total - - 6 6
The IEP understands that competent academic staff is not only determined by his/her qualification or degrees, but also by their pedagogical competences. Following AUN-QA guidelines we believe that a competent staff should be able to (1) design and deliver a coherent teaching and learning curriculum; (2) apply a range of teaching and learning methods and select most appropriate assessment methods to achieve the expected learning outcomes; (3) develop and use a variety of instructional media; (4) monitor and evaluate their own teaching performance and evaluate courses they deliver (5) reflect upon their own teaching practices; and (6) conduct research and provide services to benefit stakeholders.
Every semester each instructor’s competence, the course design and content for each class they deliver is evaluated during the pre and post semester course evaluation. The pre- course semester evaluation provides a good opportunity to monitor and evaluate how well the instructor designs the course curriculum, the number of teaching and learning methods as well as the assessments they use in class and respond to feedback from previous evaluations. The post-semester course evaluation serves the same purpose, and in addition can help in the evaluation of the teaching performance. These activities provide a good opportunity where not only are the competences identified, the weaknesses of instructors are also brought about and a course of action is decided upon these weaknesses.
37 Performance of the academic staffs are evaluated through other means. The board of the Faculty uses the TOR system to evaluate the teaching, research and academic performance of the academic staff every year. Moreover, there is a teaching performance evaluation carried out by the students at the end of each semester for every course through the university system.
6.5. Training and developmental needs of academic staff are identified and activities are implemented to fulfill them The IEP uses the system explained in section 6.4 as a way to identify the areas where instructors need training. Using output from the pre and post course semester, the IEP will then identify what workshops would be the most appropriate for the academic staff to attend. Another means the IEP is using to identify training needs for the academic staff is through a discussion of training needs in an annual meeting. In this meeting the academic staff discuss what are the competences in terms of research or professional development they feel requires more training.
After identifying the areas where the staff require more training and development, the IEP committee will send a proposal detailing the areas where training and development are required. This proposal is submitted to the Knowledge Management (KM) board of the FEC. The KM board is the committee in charge of recommending workshops for professional development to the FEC. Together with KM board, the FEC provided 6 different workshops for all instructors in the FEC this year. The workshops included in the 2017 academic year are the following:
1) Prepping for AUN-QA 2) Integrating research and academic service into courses 3) Preparing documentation for academic promotion 4) Publication for development 5) Experience for international publication 6) Recommendations for writing government documents In 2018, Faculty of Economics provided 3 different workshops covering producing graduated students, management, and research domains. The workshops included in the 2018 academic year are the following:
1) Learning and teaching in 21th century 2) Digital management and initiating working motivation
38 3) Plagiarism detection The topics of KM workshop are from the KM committees which considered from university strategies. The results of KM workshops are presented in Exhibit 6.4.
The FEC also provides an annual budget where both the academic and support staff can use for paying fees for participating in activities that promote professional development. The budget is called “Staff development budget” as shown in Exhibit 6.5. Activities that the FEC considers as promoting professional development are shown in Table 6.6. According to the regulations of the “Staff development budget” of the FEC, an academic staff can only ask for financial assistance for only one activity.
Table 6.6. Activities that are included in the “Staff development budget”
Ceiling Activity promoting professional development (baht/year) 1. Attending seminar, workshop, field trip, and conference inside of Thailand 25,000 2. Attending international seminar, workshop, and academic field trip outside 30,000 of Thailand 3. Presenting research output in an international conference outside of 35,000 Thailand 4. Publication fee including manuscript editor and page charge 25,000
6.6. Performance management including rewards and recognition is implemented to motivate and support education, research and service The FEC provides reward and recognition to publication. Instructors who publish their academic papers in proceedings from international conference and journals that are not indexed in TCI will receive 2,000 baht. In turn, if the instructors publish in TCI 2 journals they will be rewarded with 3,000 baht. Publications in TCI 1 journals will receive 4,000 baht. Publications in journals included in the Commision in Hogher Education will receive 5,000 baht.
The FEC has a system in which it evaluates and rewards education and academic services. This system is referred to as TOR, and it takes place every year. The TOR measures the contribution of the academic staff in terms of research, academic services and education, and rewards the instructors through increases in salaries. The TOR system is explained in Exhibit 6.7.
39 6.7. The types and quantity of research activities by academic staff are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP uses the Faculy of Economics’ system to monitor research activities by academic staff. Every year, the FEC are asked to report the research output to the FEC in the form of the TOR. A staff of the FEC is in charge of collecting all of the evidence necessary to determine the quality of the publication, and also of classifying the research output into different categories including journal publication, conference proceedings, research projects, etc. Although the instructors are not forced to reach a minimum number of publications, their research output does affect their TOR evaluation scores (Exhibit 6.7). Consequentially, academic staffs are still involved in research activities (research activities from 2017 to 2019 is shown in Table 6.8). The research output of each academic staff is then archived, and made available for the committee of the IEP. It is important to note that the research output that does not meet the requirements of quality mentioned in the TOR are not archived, and thus are not reported in the SAR.
The number of research publications from the academic staff of the IEP is shown in Table 6.7. We start to monitor the research output of the academic staff of the IEP, starting from its launching year (2015). We can see that the number of publications per academic staff has suffered a minor fall in 2016; and although it has increased to 3.4 in 2017 it fell again in 2018. In comparison, the research output of professors in the School of Economics, Chiang Mai University (SE-CMU) has a higher research output yield. The academic staff of the SE- CMU, have published at least 4 papers/academic staff in journals/conferences and have a research project. We see it necessary for the academic staff of the IEP to engage more in research activities.
At the moment, the actions that will be taken in order to increase the research output yield of each academic staff are still under discussion. We are considering increasing research output through the capstone research projects. As we previously mentioned every student needs to complete a capstone research project in order to fulfill the requirements to graduate. They will complete their research project together with an academic staff from the IEP. This could provide a great opportunity because, on the one hand, the academic staff will be able to increase the research output, and on the other hand, students will benefit from this experience since they will not only produce research, but also be involved in the dissemination of said research.
40 Table 6.7. Types and number of research publications
Types of publications Publications per Year Total Institutional National International academic staff 2014 4 1 6 11 - 2015 4 2 6 12 2.4 2016 4 0 3 8 1.6 2017 4 5 8 17 3.4 2018 6 6 3 15 3
Table 6.8. The academic staff publication and conference participation from 2017 - 2019
Name Research Publication and Conference Organic Farming Policy Effect in Northern of Thailand: Spatial Lag Analysis. The 14th International Conference on Computing and Information Technology (IC2IT 2018). July 5 – 6, 2018. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Farmers’ Health Effects and Attitude Towards Agrochemicals Use in Rice Production. 10th International Conference on Combustion, Incineration/Pyrolysis, Emission and Climate Change. December 18 – 21, 2018. Bangkok, Thailand. Value of a Statistical Life of Agrochemicals Use Paddy Farmers. Advanced Science Letters, Volume 24, Number 4, April 2018 pp.2320-2323(4). The Willingness to Accept Compensations for Reduction of Chemical Usage in Rice Production: A Choice Experiment Study, University of Thai Chamber of Commerce Journal, Humanities and Social Sciences, 37(3) pp. 76-89. Evaluation of Recreational Benefit for Natural Tourism Quality Improvement in Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Journal of Environmental and Tourism Analysis Vol. 5.1. Nantasen, W. Farmer’s Knowledge of Chemical Use, Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mahasarakham University, 36(1) pp. 44-51. Research project and Fund Factors that affect students’ decision to resign from Maejo university (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Willingness to Accept of Agro-Chemicals Used Farmers (Fund: National Research Council of Thailand) Consumers’ Willingness to pay for Cavendish Banana Smart Labelling in Chiang Mai Province (Fund: Faculty of Economics, Maejo University) Comparison of Health Cost and Cost and Returns among Chemical Substance Application Rice and Organic Rice Planting in Upper Northern of Thailand: A Case of Chemical Substance Application Rice Farmers in Dok Kham Tai District and Baan Dokbua Organic Rice Farmers in Muang District Phayao Province (Fund: Maejo University) Inquiry of stakeholders’ needs and requirements for IEP students (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Kuson, S. Publication and Conference
41 Name Research Factors affecting tourist decision to travel to Maekha develop project, Chiangmai. Suthiparithat Journal. Volume 32 (10). January – March 2018. Factors Affecting Tourists’ Decision to Visit the Royal-initiated Mae Ngon River Basin Development Project in Fang District, Chiang Mai. Suthiparithat Journal. 32(101), 134-148. Research project and Fund The Socio-economic Impacts of a Sustained Program of Forest Restoration: The case of Baan Mae Sa Mai-Mae Sa Noi, Pongyang, Maerim, Chiang Mai (Fund: Chiang Mai Rajabhat University) Valuing Ecological Services of Forest Restoration: Case Study Baan Mae Sa Mai-Mae Sa Noi, Pongyang, Maerim, Chiang Mai (Fund: National Research Council of Thailand) Inquiry of stakeholders’ needs and requirements for IEP students (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Factors that affect students’ decision to resign from Maejo university (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Eco-friendly Practices in the Hotel Industry to Green Tourism and Environment Attitude of International Tourists in Chiang Mai (Fund: National Research Council of Thailand). Development of Golden Dried Longan Production System Management with Digital Network and Smart Farming (Fund: National Research Council of Thailand) Publication project and Conference Contribution of disaggregated tourism on Thailand's economic growth, Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2017.07.012 Price transmission between world food prices and different consumer food Chulaphan, price indices in Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social W. Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2017.07.008 Research project and Fund Factors that affect students’ decision to resign from Maejo university (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Inquiry of stakeholders’ needs and requirements for IEP students (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Publication and Conference Contribution of disaggregated tourism on Thailand's economic growth, Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2017.07.012 Price transmission between world food prices and different consumer food price indices in Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social Barahona, J. Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2017.07.008 Research project and Fund Factors that affect students’ decision to resign from Maejo university (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Inquiry of stakeholders’ needs and requirements for IEP students (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Publication and Conference Chuangchid, Application of maximum entrophy estimation for linear model and factor K. affecting minimum wage estimation in province of Thailand: Case study.
42 Name Research Economic Journal of Chiang Mai University. 22 (2): May – August 2018. The Impact of Extreme Events on Portfolio in Financial Risk Management Conference proceeding: Studies in Computational Inteligence book series (SCI, volume 692) Research project and Fund Inquiry of stakeholders’ needs and requirements for IEP students (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Factors that affect students’ decision to resign from Maejo university (Fund: Faculty of Economics, MJU) Digital Marketing of Golden Dried Longan (Fund: National Research Council of Thailand)
7. Support Staff Quality 7.1. Support staff planning is carried out to fulfill the needs for education, research and service As we previously mentioned, both MJU and FEC undergo a different quality assurance system than that used by IEP. Consequentially, quality assurance concerning the support staff in the library, dorms and other student services are still under discussion. The FEC has a total of 23 support staff. The support staff are distributed into 5 units which include: the finance and supplies section (2 staff), policy planning and quality assurance section (2 staff), general administration section (2 staff), student affair section (5 staff), and agricultural economics and forecasting center (10 staff) as shown in Figure 7.1.
Table 7.1. Number of support staff in the FEC (2013 – 2018)
Support Staff High Education Attainment Bachelor’s Master’s Total Finance and supplies section 1 2 3 Policy planning and quality assurance section - 2 2 General administration section 1 1 2 Student affair section 2 3 5 Agricultural economics and forecasting center 1 8 9 Total 5 15 21
43
Figure 7.1. Organizational chart of the support staff in the FEC
As shown in Table 7.1, a majority of the support staff of the FEC has obtained a master’s degree, and have worked at the FEC for more than 5 years. The number of students enrolled at the FEC since 2012 average in average amount to 350 students per year. Therefore, the support staff, student and professor ratio is 1 to 7. It is enough to provide services for students and academic professors. Consequentially, short term planning of the support staff is not practiced. However, the long-term planning depends on staff resignation. Support staff are required to communicate their intention of resigning from their position at the FEC to the staff in charge of human resources. The staff will then inform of the vacancy to the dean, and he/she will then initiate the process of hiring a new staff (recruitment system explained in criteria 7.2). For the last 5 years, none of a staff has resigned, and do not intend to do so. Therefore, FEC has not suffered from inadequate number of support staff.
44
7.2. Recruitment and selection criteria for appointment, deployment and promotion are determined and communicated. We will focus on the student affairs section because it is the unit that most supports the academic staff and students. This unit consists of 5 staff divided into 4 units.
1. Graduate Studies unit: The staff in this unit is responsible for providing academic service and activities to graduate students, and provide support to professors. 2. Educational Guidance and Cooperative Educational unit: In charge of providing support to documentation related to student internship, scholarship, support for new coming students, and promote faculty. 3. Student Activities and Information Technology unit: Help with student activities, develop information system and alumni database. 4. Audio Visual Services unit: Inspects and administrated all of the equipment in the FEC, arrange class and exam schedule, manage student registration including add and drop classes.
The responsibilities of each staff is clearly stated in the faculty announcement 35/2561 (Exhibit 7.1). The recruitment of new staff goes through the following steps:
1. The faculty needs to inform the human resources (HR) department of the university. The faculty needs to provide the competences of the new staff. 2. After approval by HR of the university, the university publicly announces the job position through university’s website at Division of personnel (http://personnel.mju.ac.th/). 3. Once the university announces the position, the faculty proceeds on appointing the committee that will help in the selection of the candidates, selection of the candidates, interview process. 4. The faculty submits the result of recruitment to MJU’s HR. The HR then makes a public announcement of the candidate who is hired for the position. 5. The new employee signs the contract with HR.
Some examples of the requirements for vacancy position in academic year 2018 is shown in Exhibit 7.2. The announcement indicates the specific degree that the applicant must have, employability skills and working experience. The responsibilities for the position are notified to the candidates during the interview.
45 The support staff are able ask for a promotion. However, it depends on the kind of contract. Three employees are able to ask for promotion because they have a permanent contract with the university. However, the other two employees are not allowed to ask for promotion. These employees would need to resign and obtained a contract with the university.
The chief of educational services, the audio visual service staff and the student activities and information technology staff are currently practitioners. They can ask for a promotion (expert level) in pursuit of gaining an increase in their salary. Staff who are planning to ask for a promotion are asked to submit a handbook and research material relating to the tasks. At the moment the three staff are not planning in asking for a promotion due to personal reasons.
7.3. Competences of support staff are identified and evaluated In order to evaluate the competences of the support staff the IEP has identified the academic staff and the students as main stakeholders. Every year the Student affairs section is evaluated by these stakeholders. The assessment takes in the form of a survey. The questions included in the survey are different for every position as shown in Exhibit 7.3. The results of the survey then are analyzed by the chief of the dean office, and then proceeds to use this information to score every employee’s TOR. In turn, a survey is filled by the students in order to evaluate the competences of the support staff. The surveys are regularly filled in through the university website at the end of the academic year. Students are asked to rate their satisfaction levels in terms of classroom environment, library services, classroom equipment, computer lab equipment. The satisfaction user ratings for services provided by academic staff are shown in Tables 7.2 and 7.3.
46 Table 7.2. Satisfaction levels in terms of different services provided by the support staff during first semester of 2018 academic year
Support staff services Rating Very Poor Poor Neutral Good Very good Classroom environment 1.14 2.00 9.24 24.68 62.94 Library services 1.16 2.22 9.56 25.47 61.59 Classroom equipment 1.28 2.29 9.71 25.50 61.22 Lab equipment 1.23 2.25 9.58 25.76 61.18 Overall 1.2 2.19 9.52 25.35 61.73
Table 7.3. Satisfaction levels in terms of different services and equipment provided by the support staff during second semester of 2018 academic year
Support staff services Rating Very Poor Poor Neutral Good Very good Classroom environment 1.35 1.88 7.92 24.25 64.60 Library services 1.30 2.09 8.21 24.09 64.31 Classroom equipment 1.40 2.12 8.10 25.79 62.59 Lab equipment 1.46 1.96 7.89 25.95 62.75 Overall 1.38 2.01 8.03 25.02 63.56
An example of this questionnaire is shown in Exhibit 7.3. After careful analysis, the IEP has observed that these questions do not collect enough information in order to evaluate the performance of this criteria. The IEP has then decided to propose to the FEC to conduct a more complete survey that will help evaluate the competences of the student affairs section.
7.4. Training and developmental needs of support staff are identified and activities are implemented to fulfill them The FEC encourages the support staff to participate in training and developmental workshops. The FEC allocates a budget, that the staff can use to pay for the training fees. Detailed information about this budget can be found in the “Criteria and methods to support
47 budget for research and self-development” announcement (Exhibit 7.4). The support staff can apply for this budget through two channels:
1. Training workshops: 10,000 baht/year (domestic) and 15,000 baht/year (international) 2. Research related to job improvement: 15,000 baht per person per year.
7.5. Performance management including rewards and recognition is implemented to motivate and support education, research and service The FEC recognizes and awards the support staff for their performance through the TOR. The TOR is conducted every year, and is used to determine which staff receives an increase in their salary. The staff who gets the highest score in each evaluation round will receive an increase in salary. The board of a faculty is a committee to consider all support staff TOR. Other forms of rewards and recognition are not implemented in a faculty yet.
8. Student Quality and Support 8.1. The student intake policy and admission criteria are defined, communicated, published, and up-to-date.
Student admissions is administrated by the Office of Academic Administration and Development of MJU (OAA-MJU). This unit is in charge of determining the policy for student admissions for all of the academic programmes in MJU. Furthermore, they also collect each academic programmes’ student policy intake and criteria, and make it available through the MJU Admissions university website. As of 2018, the OAA-MJU has decided to use the admission channels provided by the Thai University Central Admission System (TCAS). The TCAS is a section for the Council of University President from Thailand (CUPT) that manages all student admission channels that are available for universities in Thailand.
Each year the TCAS makes an announcement of what will be the forms of admission that will take place for that year. TCAS also makes an announcement of the number of rounds that will be available for academic programmes to accept students. These include direct admission with portfolio, quota, and/or general admission. The IEP then uses this information to adapt its student intake policy and decide in the number of students the IEP
48 will accept. The official announcements for the admission of students for the academic year 2018-2019 are shown in Exhibit 8.1 The IEP makes this information available to students through the programme specification, the university website and social media (through IEP Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account).
For the 2019 academic year the available rounds for student admission are the following:
Round 1 and 2 criteria • Overall GPA 2.75 • Mathematics GPA 2.75 • English GPA 2.75 Round 3. Quota admissions criteria • Overall GPA 2.5 • Mathematics GPA 2.5 • English GPA 2.5 Round 4 and 5. General Admissions criteria • Overall GPA 2.25 • Mathematics GPA 2.25 • English GPA 2.25
The total amount of students accepted for each channel is shown in Table 8.1.
Table 8.1 Number of students admitted per channel of admission
Academic year Academic year Academic year Academic year 2015-2016* 2016-2017* 2017-2018 2018-2019
Portfolio and - - - 10 41.67% GPA Quota and 34 52% 40 83% 18 34% 2 8.33% admission Direct 31 48% 8 17% 35 66% 12 50% admission Total 65 100% 48 100% 53 100% 24 100% Note: In 2015 and 2016, MJU started its academic year at the same time as other universities in Thailand. For this reason, MJU had access to the admission process. However, in 2017, the academic year at MJU started in June rather than in August. Consequentially, direct admissions and quota were the only methods used to admit students in 2017-2018.
49 8.2. The methods and criteria for the selection of students are determined and evaluated Previously we mentioned that MJU’s admission policy is based on the process announced by TCAS every year. Consequentially, the admission methods and criterias to be considered depends on the TCAS policy at that time. After the TCAS makes an announcement of the channels used to accept students, the IEP identifies the necessary requirements to be included in the intake policy by taking into consideration the PLOs and the course content during their first year of study. During their first year, students will need to enroll introductory courses that require a good command in mathematics and English. In order for students to successfully understand these courses, the students need to have a good command in the English language as well as good math skills. For this reason, we place much of the weight for accepting to students in these two components.
We have to point out that the number of student enrollment is consistently falling. This is a phenomena experienced by several universities in Thailand. In response, the board of the IEP discussed this issue in a board meeting and also interviewed several first year students, and found that the number of students enrolled in the IEP is affected by four issues.
1. IEP is a new programme that is not well known 2. Students are afraid of MJU culture and freshman camp 3. Major Thai universities have increased the number of students they admit 4. Constant changes in the regulations used by TCAS
In 2018, the IEP has decided to make the programme more accessible to students by promoting the IEP through social media. As shown in Table 8.1, the number of student enrolled in IEP fell for a third consecutive year providing indications that promoting the programme through social media did not work as expected. The IEP decided to develop a student recruitment plan (still under discussion) in order to increase the number of students. We see it necessary to first increase the student enrollment rate prior to evaluating the appropriateness of the student selection criterias. Consequentially, the IEP will work on improving student performance, and later focus on evaluating the student admission process.
50 8.3. There is an adequate monitoring system for student progress, academic performance, and workload In order to set up the system the IEP will use to monitor student progress, academic performance and workload, we must first talk about the different components are included in student learning in the IEP. These include the expected learning outcomes, course curriculum, the academic staff, the academic and research advisor, and the IEP committee.
1. Expected learning outcomes and course curriculum: The learning outcomes are basically the goals student must achieve by the end of the course and/or programme. Learning outcomes are important because they aid in the measurement of student progress and academic performance. Figuratively speaking, the course curriculum shows the path the student must take in order to achieve the learning outcomes. Student progress, academic performance and workload can be measured by evaluating how successful a student has been in advancing through the different courses in the course curriculum.
2. Academic Staff: agent in charge of using different teaching methods that will help the student achieve the desired learning outcome in a period of time. Furthermore, by performing different assessments that are intended to measure whether a student reached the learning outcomes. The instructor also provides a record of academic performance and student progress.
3. IEP committee: third party that ensures that instructors are using the most appropriate teaching and assessment methods in class, and are able to establish a good learning environment. Furthermore, the IEP committee is the component that organizes the different activities that will collect data, and provide a means to evaluate quality in student learning.
4. Academic and research advisors: are the actors responsible in personally communicating student progress and academic achievement to each student, and performing intervention procedures with students who are underperforming or are at risk of not completing the program. The research advisor is the instructor that is in charge of mentoring the students for their research projects in fourth year.
Forms of communication between students and academic staff of the IEP include the following: email, IEP Facebook page, Line group, meetings, workshops, seminars.
51 The total number of students in the past 4 years are shown in Table 8.2. We would like to emphasize that at the moment of the writing of this document, final examinations for the senior students have yet to finish, and thus represent an estimate of the number of people who passed/failed the capstone research project.
Table 8.2. Total number of student in last 3 academic years
Year 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year > 4 years Total 2015-2016 65 - - - - 65 2016-2017 48 49 - - - 97 2017-2018 53 36 48 - - 137 2018-2019 24 53 36 48 - 161 Note: Number of students in 2018 are based on projections from the IEP. Confirmation of the number of students admitted in the academic year 2018-2018 will be official until students register for the IEP during the registration period in the end of June, 2018.
We use the course curriculum to draw out a study plan that the student is recommended to take in order to graduate on time. We can use this study plan to also measure the number of credits the students will take per semester and thus the workload. The courses as well as the number of credits each contain is shown in Tables 8.3 to 8.6. The number of credits is well spread throughout the semesters and years. Every semester the academic staff of the IEP makes sure to notify students of the study plan (and any changes related to it)
We decided to allocate a lower number of credits for students coursing their fourth year for several reasons. Fourth year students are required to finish an independent research project together with a research advisor. This arrangement will give students enough time to work their research projects together with the advisors. Furthermore, students who have not finished completing the number of credits necessary to graduate will have an opportunity to obtain enough number of credits to graduate.
52 Table 8.3. List of courses for students coursing their first year in IEP
1st semester 2nd semester Code Subjects Credit Code Subjects Credit AP 101 Agriculture for Life 3 GE 142 Fundamental English 2 3 GE 141 Fundamental English 1 3 MA 105 Math for Business and 3 Economics 1 ST 301 Prin. of Statistics 3 LE 111 English Aural-Oral 3 Communication 1 AC 161 Financial Accounting 3 EC 215 Microeconomics 2 3 EC 214 Microeconomics 1 3 EC 217 Macroeconomics 2 3 EC 216 Macroeconomics 1 3 IE 141 Economic Law 3 Total 18 Total 18
Table 8.4. List of courses for students coursing their second year in IEP
1st semester 2nd semester Code Subjects Credit Code Subjects Credit - General Elective Subject 3 - General Elective Subject 3 GE 031 Thai Language Usage 3 LR 241 English Language Practice 1 1 GE 245 English for Social 3 IE 221 Quantitative Analysis in 3 Science 1 International Economics AE 261 Introduction for 3 IE 351 English for Economists 3 Mathematical Economics EC 331 Money and Banking 3 IE 212 World and Thai Economy 3 Analyses EC 351 International Economics 3 - Elective Subject 1 3 Total 18 Total 16
Table 8.5. List of courses for students coursing their third year in IEP
1st semester 2nd semester Code Subjects Credit Code Subjects Credit LR 242 English Language 1 3 - General Elective Subject Practice 2 IE 211 International Business 3 LR 243 English Language 1 Economics Practice 3 IE 242 International Economic 3 EC 311 History of Economic 3 Law Thought IE 314 International Investment 3 EC 213 International Financial 3 Theory and Policy Economics IE 315 International Trade 3 IE 323 Research Methodology in 3 Theory and Policy International Economics IE 322 Econometrics for 3 - Elective subject 2 3 International Economics Total 16 Total 16
53 Table 8.6. List of courses for students coursing their fourth year in IEP
1st semester 2nd semester Code Subjects Credit Code Subjects Credit - General Elective Subject 3 - Elective subject 5 3 - Elective subject 3 3 EC 498 Independent Study 9 - Elective subject 4 3 Total 9 Total 12
The IEP has found it effective and more helpful to integrate part of the monitoring system of the academic performance and student progress into the Post-semester course evaluation (Exhibit 4.2). We previously mentioned that the IEP committee will perform an evaluation of the outcomes of every course. For this purpose, the IEP will ask all academic staff to report the performance of every student enrolled in their classes. Furthermore, the academic needs to provide a measure into the achievement of PLO. This provides a good opportunity to not only monitor the student performance, but also to identify the students who are underperforming and are at risk of not completing the program. This information is then extended to the academic advisor of the underperforming students. The academic advisor is asked to meet with the underperforming students and find a way to help improve their academic performance.
The academic advisors also help in monitoring the student progress by discussing the study plan with his/her advisee. Each student is required to make an appointment with the academic advisor before the start of the semester (discussion could be made in person, through email or social media). The academic advisor will then discuss what classes the students should enroll based on their student progress.
We understand that students are key informants for the evaluation of this monitoring system. Starting in the 2019 academic year, IEP will gather information through the use of a focus group (Exhibit 5.1). The outcomes of the focus group will then be included in a meeting where the student intake procedure, student learning environment as well as the student progress an academic performance are evaluated. The meeting has the goal of identifying the problems or areas that need improvement in the monitoring system for student progress, academic performance and workload.
54 8.4. Academic advice, co-curricular activities, student competition, and other student support services are available to improve learning and employability The mentoring system including the academic and research advisor (discussed in section 8.3) is a service that is available for students and is aimed at improving student learning. In addition to discussing the study plan and the courses students need to enroll in every semester, the students can ask their academic/research advisor for advice, raise any doubts they have about the curriculum, and voice any problems they have with any university related issue. In terms of research advisors, students are asked to choose an advisor for their research project. The advisor then is responsible in guiding the student into completing his research. Furthermore, every academic staff is asked to reserve some time as “office hours”. Students can visit the instructor’s office during office hours, and make queries or asked for academic advice.
The IEP organized several extracurricular activities to improve employability of the students. These activities were aimed to improve employability skills including: computer skill, preparing for the working environment, English communication skills and positive attitude. The extracurricular activities that were organized from 2017 to 2019 are shown in Tables 8.7 and 8.8.
Table 8.7. Extracurricular student activities 2017 – 2018 academic year
Extracurricular Employability Details of the activity activity skill Tech-savvy Computer skills The workshop help student learn how to use important software applications including MS-Office, Google apps for education, and Website for carrier. Religions in Preparing for the This workshop was intended to help students learn ASEAN working about the different religions in the ASEAN environment community. This will help students interact with people with diverse backgrounds when they enter the workforce. This workshop focused on providing information about the core of Islam, dos and don’ts when working with a Muslim coworker. Talk to future Preparing for the IEP invited professional from private company to give working students an idea of what is the working environment, environment what are the differences between working and studying, and also the areas where they should be careful when working. One by one English This activity is aimed at motivating students to communication communicate in English. It allows students to sustain skills a conversation with a professor for at least 15 minute.
55 Table 8.8. Extracurricular student activities 2018 – 2019 academic year
Extracurricular Employability skill Detail of the activity activity Talk to the Preparing for the This workshop invited guest speaker from famous future working food company (Charoen Pokphand Foods, Ltd) to environment share information about the employee characteristic that the company wants to hire. The interview process was also included in this workshop English for English This activity is aimed at motivate student to Economist communication communicate in English through fun activities. skills Media digitals Computer skill This activity aims to increase student competition for skill to use media and tools for their efficient presentation presentation.
8.5. The physical, social and psychological environment is conductive for education and research as well as personal well-being The IEP considers that it is critical for the IEP to build an environment where students are motivated to engage on academic activities and university student life. We believe that in order to reach this goal it is important that students understand the university regulations, MJU university culture, and their rights during their first year. For this the IEP organizes an orientation, MJU guidance counselors, and dormitory staff. The orientation has a duration of 7 days, and it is done before first year students start their academic year. In the orientation, students learn about university life, university rules, and practice some ice-breaking activities. After the orientation, a second year student is tasked with taking care of a first year student. Students are usually assigned on a one on one bases. The MJU guidance counselors instruct students into the ways they can adjust to the new environment.
In order to enhance communication between the academic staff and the students, the academic staff of the IEP create a group chat in the Line App. The purpose of this group is to create a healthy interaction between students and instructor, and let the students feel comfortable enough to contact the instructors on any kind of issues. We have found that this interaction has helped in fostering a good social environment between the instructors and the students enhancing learning.
MJU regulations dictate that first year students are required to stay at MJU dormitory under supervision of a university staff 24 hours. If first year students want to leave the dormitory during the weekend they need to ask permission from a dormitory staff. The dorm
56 staff is then responsible of the student safety, and enforcing dorm regulations. This actions are undertaken to ensure student safety.
The FEC provides a physical environment that is conducive to learning by equipping the classrooms with the appropriate facilities and equipment for each class. At the end of each academic year, the FEC will conduct a student survey where they are asked to provide their levels of satisfaction in terms of faculty equipment and facilities. In the most recent survey, the students reported that they were very satisfied with the classroom and facilities as shown in Tables 7.2 and 7.3. In cases, where the students are found to not be satisfied with the physical environment at the FEC the IEP will make inquire what areas require more improvement, and then report this issue to the FEC.
In order to make sure that whether the environment and activities are conductive for study, research and well-being, IEP will use questionnaire to interview students (Exhibit 5.1) at the end of an academic year. The outcomes of the student survey or focus group will then be included in a meeting where the student intake procedure, student learning environment as well as the student progress an academic performance are evaluated. The meeting has the goal of identifying the potential areas that might affect the student’s learning environment. If the results show that students have a hard time adapting to MJU’ environment, including adapting to living in the dorm, the IEP will raise the issue to the board of FEC and propose that the Division of Campus Buildings and Site of MJU find a solution. IEP will follow the results from Division of Campus Buildings and Site. In case of students feel that they need support about classes, advisor will follow up and report to the next monthly of IEP meeting.
9. Facilities and Infrastructure 9.1. The teaching and learning facilities and equipment (lecture halls, classroom, project rooms, etc.) are adequate and update to support education and research The FEC provides facilities and equipment for students and academic staff to use for teaching and learning (Table 9.1). All the classes and facilities are equipped to serve 1,244 students. The first class starts from 8.00 – 9.30 am and the last class is from 4.00 – 5.30 pm. The classrooms schedule is arranged before the semester start. In case that a faculty cannot provide the classroom in a faculty. The faculty will arrange that the classroom be arranged in another building inside the university.
57 Table 9.1 Classrooms and equipment of FEC
Building and classrooms 1. E-learning corner equipped with computers provided for study 2. Computer lab 3. Classrooms: 8 classrooms 3. Meeting room: 3 meeting rooms 4. Activity hall for students’ activity 5. Vertical garden for good environment 6. Student association room 7. Graduated student study room 8. Cooperative Archives Technology and 1. Economic program which is STATA for study and research equipment 2. Free Wifi area 3. Computers: 45 computers
The facilities and equipment are managed and administrated by the Audio Visual Services staff. Before the semester starts, he is responsible in checking whether the classrooms and equipment are in good conditions. In case that any equipment is broken, the he is the staff responsible in replacing or fixing the class equipment.
9.2. The library and its resources are adequate and updated to support education and research MJU has a library that is fully stocked with hardcover text books, journals in English and Thai, and electronic books. Students can access the website of MJU’s central library to see what books and services are available (https://library.mju.ac.th/index.php). MJU library opens on Monday to Saturday from 08.30 am to 04.00 pm and one month before the exam the library extend closing from 04.00pm to 12.00 pm. MJU library has 193,345 text books, 1,337 journals, and 32 databases e.g. ACM Digital Library, ACS, ProQuest, CRC, IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL), Science Direct, CAB eBooks, Springer Link. Every year professors are asked to list the books that they use in class and recommended books for students to read. Then the library will buy those books. Library also provides E-book, E-Journal, and Online database.
58 9.3. The laboratories and equipment are adequate and updated to support education and research FEC has a computer lab which provides 45 computers. Econometric software programs such as SPSS, STATAS, Eviews are installed for studying and research. The number of students in the IEP is lower than 45 students per batch. Therefore, it is adequate with number of student in each batch.
9.4. The IT facilities and equipment are adequate and updated to support education and research Beside a computer lab, FEC provide free Wi-Fi for students and staff to access. Once students and staff have problem with computers and internet system, Audio visual service staff will provide fixing services. Moreover, MJU also provides Microsoft word program and fixing services for students and staff.
9.5. The standards for environment, health and safety; and access for people with special needs are defined and implemented Recently, FEC provides fire escape training for staff and students once a year at the beginning of the first semester. Fire extinguishers are installed in each floor of a building. For health services, MJU has health unit where has 4 nurses and beds. Unfortunately, at the moment the FEC facilities are not special needs friendly.
10. Quality Enhancement In the pursuit of quality enhancement, the IEP has put forth a set of activities that are aimed at monitoring and improving the quality of the process of curriculum design and development as well as teachng and learning processes and student assessments, and also student learning environment. Several activities have been already described in previous portions of this document (Figure 2.1 and 10.1). We will use this part of the document to explain how they are all connected and help in the achievment of criterias contained in this section.
59 Figure 10.1. Annual activities used for continuous learning quality improvement.
10.1. Stakeholders’ needs and feedback serve as input to curriculum design and development The development and design of the IEP’s curriculum (2020 version) is based on the needs and wants of the stakeholders. This is demonstrated through the process we explained in sections 1.1, 1.3 and 2.2 (briefly illustrated in Figure 2.1), and the evidence shown in exhibits 1.1 and 1.3. In order to make the process more efficient, we decided to integrate the stakeholder feedback with the channels we are using to update the programme and course specification in sections 2.1, 2.2 and 4.2 (illustrated in Figure 10.1). The role of the stakeholders play in the process mentioned in this document is very important because their needs and feedback has a huge influence on the expected learning outcomes of the programme and by extension the content of the curriculum.
10.2. The curriculum design and development process is established and subjected to evaluation and enhancement There are two channels involved in the development and design of the curriculum. We could call the first channel long term since it has a span of 5 years and the results of such process yields major changes in the curriculum. The process used for this channel is
60 illustrated in Figure 2.1, it starts by doing an inquiry into the needs and requirements of the stakeholders, and then developing the new programme and course specification based on the output of such research. The second channel which we could refer to short run, takes place in a span of 1 year. Every semester the IEP will conduct a pre-semester and post-semester course evaluation (process and purpose described in sections 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 as well as exhibits 4.1 and 4.2) as well as a yearly PLO assessment meeting (Exhibit 10.1). The output of these evaluations can serve as a means to identify weaknesses in student learning, actual practice and success of teaching, learning and assessment, and also yield a set of actions that the programme will take in order to enhance quality in learning.
10.3. The teaching and learning processes and student assessment are continuously reviewed and evaluated to ensure their relevance and alignment Criterion 10.3 is very related to 10.2, the former focuses on the curriculum while the later focuses on the teaching and learning processes and student assessment. Changes in the curriculum will have an effect on the teaching and learning methods as well as the assessments used in courses. Thus an effective way to review and evaluate the relevance and alignment of the learning methods and assessments is to use the two channels we described in 10.3. The first channel (Figure 2.1) will help obtain a list of teaching and learning methods and assessments that are suitable and aligned with the learning outcomes.
The second channel will be more relevant for this criteria since it will evaluate if the assessments and teaching methods are trully aliged with each other and the expected learning outcomes. The activities included in this channel include the pre and post semester course evaluation and the yearly PLO assessment meeting (described in detail in exhibits 4.1, 4.2 and 10.1). These activities will be conducted regularly (pre and post semester course evaluation will be done every semester, while yearly PLO assessment will be carried out on an anual basis).
The activities proposed in this section provides a means to evaluate how the assessments and teaching methods are affecting student learning, whether they are effective, and as we said in the previous section, identify weaknesses in student learning, actual practice and success of teaching, learning and assessment, and also yield a set of actions that the programme will take in order to enhance quality in learning.
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10.4. Research output is used to enhance teaching and learning We believe that inclusion of research output from academic staff is important for student learning. Students will benefit if instructor’s research output either as case studies and/or in class examples. Students will benefit more from this kind of learning as they move to more advanced courses. The IEP encourages inclusion of research output of academic staff in courses. We already specified that in the pre-course evaluation we will monitor the teaching and learning methods used by the professor, and in the post-course evaluation we will evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching and learning methods. We ask that the lecturers include their research output as examples and case studies in either intermediate and advanced courses. The effectiveness of such learning activities will be monotired and assessed during the post-semester evaluations.
10.5. Quality of support services and facilities (at the library, laboratory, IT facility and student service) is subjected to evaluation and enhancement In order to make sure that whether students are receiving the best quality of support services and facilities, IEP will use questionnaire to interview students (Exhibit 5.1) at the end of an academic year. The outcomes of the student survey or focus group will then be included in a meeting where the student intake procedure, student learning environment and quality of support services and facilities. The meeting has the goal of identifying the support services and physical equipment meet both students and academic staff demands.
10.6. The stakeholder’s feedback mechanisms are systematic and subjected to evaluation and enhancement The stakeholders’ feedback mechanism shown in Exhibit 1.3 is systematic. Similar to the mechanism we explained in 10.2, every activity included in the feedback mechanism is evaluated. We ask that the instructors in charge of each of the activities write down a list of weaknesses and limitations that these activities have. We also insert these activities into the AUN-SAR in the hopes that the assessors provide feedback into the appropriateness of such activities. The entire board of the programme will discuss the weaknesses, limitations and feedback from the assessors during the briefing of AUN evaluations. In that briefing the
62 board of the IEP will write a report where the problem is described and a recommended action to solve this problem is developed.
11. Output 11.1. The pass rates and dropout rates are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP was launched in 2015, at the moment of the writing of this document, the IEP only has four batches of students enrolled in the programme. However, a portion of the fourth year students have yet to defend their capstone research project.
11.2. The average time to graduate is established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP was launched in 2015, at the moment of the writing of this document, the IEP only has four batches of students enrolled in the programme. However, a portion of the fourth year students have yet to defend their capstone research project.
11.3. Employability of graduates is established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP was launched in 2015, at the moment of the writing of this document, the IEP only has four batches of students enrolled in the programme. However, a portion of the fourth year students have yet to defend their capstone research project.
11.4. The types and quantity of research activities by student are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP was launched in 2015, at the moment of the writing of this document, the IEP only has four batches of students enrolled in the programme. However, a portion of the fourth year students have yet to defend their capstone research project.
63 11.5. The satisfaction level of stakeholders are established, monitored and benchmarked for improvement The IEP was launched in 2015, at the moment of the writing of this document, the IEP only has four batches of students enrolled in the programme. However, a portion of the fourth year students have yet to defend their capstone research project.
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